Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Pluto's Black Star
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“Here, there are footprints. They couldn’t have gone far. Hurry up!”
“Hek, hugh, hurgh… I’m, I’m coming…”
Hoo-. My breath rose right up to my chin and kept bursting out of my mouth in ragged gasps. Sure, I didn’t know shit about martial arts or swordsmanship, but I had confidence in just running or sprinting.
That confidence was getting shattered a bit.
Hippolyte was leaping across the ground like she was flying. The way she kicked off the earth with those long, slender legs was just like a cheetah. Fuck, she could probably go toe-to-toe with a real cheetah.
Even though I’d gained some strength, I was still just at the level of a sturdy adult man, barely managing to keep up with her.
Maybe matching my pace, she’d glance back and wait every now and then.
“Hurry up and run!”
“Grurgh…”
Fuck, not only was I not getting left behind by a necromancer, I might die chasing after Hippolyte with my heart exploding.
“Fucking… out of breath… hu, shit…”
“Damn it.”
Whoosh-.
Suddenly, my body floated up into the air. The reason? Hippolyte had hoisted me onto her shoulder like a piece of luggage.
It was already amazing that she picked me up like I was a light bento box. But when she kicked off the ground with those legs, the scenery around us blurred by even faster.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh-.
Fuck, it felt like riding a two-legged car—enough to flash me back to modern civilization after so long.
“Wow, no joke, you’re fucking fast. At this speed, we don’t even need a carriage—”
“You'll bite your tongue! Keep your mouth shut!”
“Mmph…”
I clamped my mouth shut at her warning about biting my tongue.
We raced across the wasteland for a while like that, and until Hippolyte finally stopped, I didn’t say a word—just took in the scenery and her scruffy brown hair fluttering like a horse’s tail.
Her unkempt hair was actually tickling my face and pretty damn annoying, but I held back, figuring I’d get tossed if I complained.
Crunch-.
Suddenly, Hippolyte halted. Her body, moving at high speed, skidded across the dry ground from inertia.
From her shoulder, I got a view of her smooth, exposed thigh flexing hard like it was slamming on the brakes—giving me a seriously lewd vibe.
Of course, that feeling vanished instantly with the low growl in Hippolyte’s voice.
“Caught up. Time to get down.”
As I slid off her shoulder and looked around, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. It looked no different from the vast plain we’d been running through.
“There’s nothing here.”
“Feel the mana. There’s a mage who knows concealment magic. To pull off large-scale concealment like this… Is there a mage from the Karintos Ivory Tower?”
Feel the mana? The only things I could sense right now were the muggy air somewhere and the sweat trickling down my back in the heat.
Mana, karma—every time this stuff came up, I was reminded that the people here and the ones from Earth were fundamentally different species. It made me a little uncomfortable.
“Over there-.”
Hippolyte suddenly swung her blade through the empty air. At the same time, a sword wind like the one that had cleaved the skeletal dragon earlier sliced through the void.
Slash-.
She’d clearly cut empty air, but red liquid sprayed out like a fountain, startling the shit out of me. Fuck, what the hell?
Shimmer-.
Then, like peeling off old paint, the background around us began to change.
The wasteland vanished, replaced by a dark, pitch-black passageway and cold, moss-covered stone walls right in front of us.
Fuck, how the hell was this possible? Even Sima Yi in the Empty Fort Strategy wouldn’t have been this shocked.
Hippolyte spoke calmly then.
“This feeling… We’re inside Pluto’s ruins. We’ve been running through the ruins already. Did the ruins’ entrance surface in Kalan’s swamp?”
Her eyes were fixed on a black-robed corpse collapsed far down the passageway, coldly dying.
“To see through Golo’s concealment magic… Good instincts… But it’s too late… This is our domain… Filled with the power of death…”
Soon, several figures in black robes emerged from the darkness, blocking our path.
All I could do in that moment was tremble. Shit, did I come for nothing? I was just starting to regret it a little.
A necromancer wearing a necklace spiked like a flail’s head—probably the psycho named Koma—spoke in a sinister voice.
“Female warrior… Your skill and strength have indeed reached the realm of heroes… But you’re stuck just one step away… That won’t be enough to beat us…”
Crackle, crackle-.
At the same time, sparks like black lightning flickered from Necromancer Koma’s necklace.
“The incantation is already complete… Any seasoned warrior knows what it means to face a mage who’s finished casting…”
A mage who’s finished casting?
I could instinctively feel something really bad was about to happen. I’d never once had a good experience with magic in my life!
“Get behind me, Samaritan! Something big’s coming!”
Shit, she’s so reliable.
Without hesitation, I ducked behind Hippolyte’s back. Her fluttering red cape felt so trustworthy it almost brought tears to my eyes.
“Ideors… Kufer…!”
With an incomprehensible shout, intense sparks erupted from Koma’s necklace. It was literally black lightning.
Crackle, crackle!
The black lightning shot like an arrow, ricocheting off the stone walls before flying straight at Hippolyte’s torso, where she stood firm blocking my front.
“Just cut it down-!”
Hippolyte was incredible too, swinging her sword precisely at the fast-approaching bolt.
Whoosh-.
But her sword merely passed through the lightning, unable to sever it. As a result, the black bolt struck her dead-on, and she let out a bizarre scream—“Graaak!”—before collapsing.
“Urk, ugh…”
Fuck, now that my protective wall was gone, dealing with these black-robed cultists was all on me.
“Mental split… The great primordial vault, the power of Chaos… No matter how much of Jupiter’s blood you carry… You won’t withstand it… Another one… Barbarian, die too…”
The necromancer started gathering mana again from his necklace with crackles. If this kept up, I might get fried to a crisp by that black lightning too.
“Take this, shit!”
So I drew my sword and charged forward.
“Wh-what!?”
They clearly hadn’t expected me to rush in, and I could feel the black robes panicking hard.
Truth be told, attacking mages mid-cast was basic tactics.
“Bl-block him!”
Koma yelled at his fellow black robes. They hesitated and moved to block me, but my sword sliced through them a split second faster.
Slash-!
My longsword, which had cut through goblins and crocodile hide, now severed their arms and shoulders, spraying blood. Their movements slowed dramatically.
In that instant, I realized.
These fuckers weren’t that strong physically? This was totally manageable without fear.
Hwoong, hwoong!
Every swing of my sword echoed with screams of “Aak!” or “Kreeak!” filling the narrow stone passage. Some pulled daggers and lunged at me.
But the reach difference between their palm-sized daggers and my half-body-length longsword was massive—I lopped off their wrists holding the daggers before they could even touch me.
Slaaash-.
The stench of spurting blood was foul, but now wasn’t the time to care.
“What are you doing…! Suppress him with spells…!”
“W-we’re trying, but it’s not working…! The mental spells aren’t landing…!”
“They say some Samaritans have strong mental resistance. I-is this guy one of them!?”
“Fuck, what the hell…! You idiots…!”
I didn’t get what they were saying, but the black robes started arguing among themselves, fracturing.
Splitting over politics with the enemy right there? Fuck, that was as good as defeat.
I hacked off the arms and shoulders of every bastard blocking my path, sending them crashing to the ground.
In this world with shit welfare for the disabled, losing an arm was as good as a death sentence.
“D-done! Ideors… Kufer…!”
The necromancer bellowed, apparently finishing his spell. Black lightning shot from his necklace.
It was the attack that had already taken down a high-tier silver-ranked female warrior. I couldn’t help but freak out.
Fuck, dodging lightning with a human body seemed impossible, so I took a direct hit and screamed.
“Fuck! Graaak!”
“G-good…! You idiot bastard…! Y-yes-! Got some great corpses…! From Mars’s female warrior to a Samaritan…! Y-you’ll both be my minions now-! Y-yes…! I-I’m gonna cum…!”
Heh heh, heh heh heh! His creepy laughter echoed through the stone walls. But something felt off.
I’d screamed reflexively from the hit, but my body didn’t sting or hurt at all.
My muscles tingled a bit overall, but it was totally bearable. Shit, what? Did it miss?
Anyway, an attack that took ages to cast being useless against me was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I gripped my sword tight, raising it high as I could.
Even the necromancer, who’d been laughing his ass off with the walls ringing, flinched in panic.
“Wh-what!? Mental split from the Black Star doesn’t work!? Th-that’s impossible!”
He fumbled with his necklace like he was trying something, so I brought my sword down on his shoulder with all my might. His arm went flying across the floor.
“M-my arm! My arm-!”
“It's not yours anymore.”
“Wh-what!? This doesn’t make sense! Pl-Pluto! G-give me power…!”
The necromancer clutched his severed shoulder, stumbling back. I didn’t get it either, but one thing was clear: I was the top predator here.
“Pray all you want. It won’t help. I’m the god here.”
“F-fuck…!”
“Should’ve picked a better class!”
“Wh-what the…!”
Stab, slash-!
My sword cleaved off his remaining arm. Armless, he flopped on the ground, thrashing before going still—either dead from blood loss or passed out.
“Phew…”
With the situation settled, cold reason finally crept into my adrenaline-fueled head.
My legs felt like jelly, ready to give out, and my sword hand shook like an old man with Parkinson’s. Fuck, me beating mages!?
“Urgh, ugh…”
Then I heard a deep groan amid my victory high. Only then did I notice Hippolyte, who’d protected me and collapsed.
“Urghh…”
Flat on the ground, she groaned like she had the stomach flu. She didn’t seem in mortal danger, but who knew what might happen.
Shit, what’s first aid for magic victims?
CPR? Panicking with that thought, I eventually pressed my fingers to her wrist to check her pulse.
Ding-.
『Name: Hippolyte Heavensinger Lv. ??
Status: Blood Curse | Moonlight Allergy | Severe Menstrual Cramps | Respiratory Distress | ????』
Sure enough, different text from last time floated up. Respiratory distress?
I laid her flat and tilted her chin to open her airway.
“Urgh…”
But her breathing didn’t improve. Where were the pressure points for respiratory distress?
Shit, nothing obvious. Still, I had to do something, so I figured compress her chest.
Meaning, her breasts. I pried off the iron breastplate covering them.
Clank- clang, thud-.
The back and side straps were tough, but with some miracle handiwork, I unfastened them. Underneath was a thin black cloth—sports bra or tank top?
Boom-.
And the size of those breasts was bigger than expected, making my reason flicker for a sec.
Whoa, shit-.
Hidden under the armor, I hadn’t noticed. No wonder breathing was hard with those crammed under metal.
“Uh, Lady Hippolyte. This is, uh, rescue procedure. Nothing weird.”
After that preemptive report, I placed my palm on her breast.
Soft.
The soft sensation shot from my palm up my spine to my brain. No way something this squishy existed?
Shit, just one more touch.
Squish, squish-.
I was savoring that soft texture when—
“…Urp, urp, hugh… Using dirty tricks… Cough, hugh…”
With harsh coughs, Hippolyte jolted awake? Thrilled she was alive after seeming half-dead, I shouted!
“L-Lady Hippolyte! Are you okay!?”
“Hoo… M-more importantly, what happened? Why are you groping my breasts?”
“Shit.”